A friend writes us about their 27 year old water heater asking if they should just replace it now or whether they should wait until it fails. This is the kind of question that goes through most homeowners minds when they are up at night and can’t get to sleep. Do I need to replace or fix something relatively big in my house and if I do where do I start.
As the old saying goes… If its not broke then don’t fix it. and this is the advice that I would give our friend. If something in your home is working and it is not causing you problems then there is no reason to replace it right away. On the other hand this is the perfect time to start looking at your options and preparing for what might or what will eventually happen in the future.
Water heaters do go bad. They will rust from the inside or fill with sediment making them unuseable. This happens no matter what the brand or how you care for them. On the other hand water heaters can also break and then be repaired for a small amount of money making the repairs worth the expense.
Common Water Heater Problems And Repairs
Three of the most common things to go wrong with a water heater would be the Thermocouple on a Gas Water Heater and the Thermostat and Heating Elements on an Electric Water Heater. Both of these repairs are something that the average home owner with some basic tools and instructions can complete.
If your gas water heater doesn’t turn on and the pilot light ignite then the most common problem is the thermocouple. If your electric water heater is not putting out the right amount of heat or if it is scorching hot then it could be the thermostat or heating element. The tests for these parts going bad are pretty easy and the cost of the parts would be $50 or less often depending on your brand and if you can use a generic part.
Repairing your water heater in these and other cases is something that is very reasonable and cost effective. Even if you have to pay a technician $150 to get it working again and you have a low number of years on your water heater it is worth the cost.
Other repairs like when you see a water leak that isn’t coming from a valve or fitting or when you have repairs costing a few hundred dollars and your water heater is extremely old are times when you need to decide about replacement.
Advancements In Water Heaters
In the past 10 years water heater technology has not advanced as much as it has in the previous 30 years. For instance Gas water heaters have become much more efficient than models that are 30 years old or older and they have become so efficient that the waste gas off of the heater is normally so cool that it does not require the heavy insulated double wall steel pipe like it use to. That as an indicator means that the heat from your gas flame is being used up while heating your water and not being lost to the outside of your home.
Electric Water Heaters saw advancements in insulation just like their gas counterparts but the technology has not greatly increased. What you might see though is a movement to smaller water heaters that can provide hot water with a quicker turn around vs the old larger tanks that ran more often to make sure enough water was available for your entire home.
New On Demand Tankless Water Heaters have been seeing a lot of hype because they can produce as much water as you want and they do not store it in a tank. Although the concept is interesting the cost is not lower and it often means a very costly upgrade to your electrical service and circuit breaker. I think the reason that they are in demand is because Oil Furnaces that heat water will produce unlimited hot water without a tank and many people moving to Gas Heating for their home are expecting the same service. Unfortunately it is not quite the same when you are heating with electric because these heaters can use more electricity than half of your home.
Preparing For A Water Heater Replacement
Since you should expect that a water heater might need replacement during the time that you live in your home it is important every once in a while to review your options.
The first thing I suggest to every new home owner is that you look through all of your appliances and larger items like your HVAC System and Water Heater and compile a list of your manufacturer’s, Model Numbers and Serial Numbers. At that point if you haven’t been left manuals for your equipment you want to hunt them down and they are often available online in PDF form. You want to look for the service and diagnostic manual and for the part breakdown list for every part in your appliance and equipment. At that point you can then start looking for parts online to get some idea about how much it might cost in parts to repair your items.
For instance broiler and bake elements in ranges are a common replacement part so look them up online. If your appliance is over 15 years old and you can find a set of bake and broiler elements for under $50 for the set then I suggest you get them.
On your water heater you will most likely be able to use generic parts. HVAC technicians and Plumbers won’t be able to carry every part in their truck and you won’t want to wait three weeks for parts so they can often replace the manufacturer’s parts with generic parts that are exact equivalents.
Once you understand the range of parts that can go bad then you will know when a problem happens whether it is something small which you or a technician can fix or whether it really would be better to replace the whole unit.
While you are doing your research on your current models you should compare them to new models. What new options are available. If you own really old equipment has the efficiency improve from maybe 75% to 95% which would make replacing it an option if it will save you 20% of your energy cost. If there is only a few percent better savings then don’t consider it as a reason to replace your unit but keep it in mind when looking for a new unit when replacement is necessary.
Saving For Your New Water Heater
This is probably the most important reason to not jump into replacing old units that are working. The cost of replacement and possibly hiring a plumber or HVAC technician to install it can be much more than you have to spend right away.
If you have an older unit that is past its recommended life which is normally less than 15 years by the manufacturer then you need to start saving for its replacement.
I really can not stress this enough that every home owner should have money set aside to cover the cost of at least one major repair. Even if you can not cover the entire cost of something large you should have money set aside that you don’t touch that is for this reason. I suggest that you start by saving a few hundred dollars until you can afford to open a Bank CD at your best interest rate. Banks often have special rate CDs that are not normal terms. At this time it seems that terms for these CDs are between 11 and 13 months. These CDs are giving you the largest return for your savings which is normally 10 times the amount you would see in a savings account. This means that the money is locked up for that time and when the term comes due you will have the option to change the term length. It also means you are not as likely to brake this CD until you really need it.
This is very important and you should do this for other things in your life like a car repair or new car purchase. For health costs that you might not expect or for any major emergency that you can not immediately deal with.
Even if you can not save the full amount you will have something set aside for an emergency.
Even if you will use your credit card to get cash back or use a home store’s card to save 10% you want to pay that debt off immediately or as soon as you can or the cost of your repair will skyrocket due to interest on your debt. A $1000 repair can turn into a $1200 debt in just a year and that is where you lose out.
Final Note
In this How To we covered some of the things that you need to do as a home owner to prepare yourself for problems that you are likely to come across in your home.
When you own a home vs renting an apartment or living in a condo the utilities and everything else become part of your responsibility. If you prepare early and review your plans as you go then you can be ready for anything. If you wait until something happens you might be left at the hands of a repair person that will charge you more than you have and will provide you something that you really don’t want.
That is the difference You Don’t Have Any Choices if an emergency hits and you haven’t prepared for it.
On the other hand if you do see your water heater has died and you have taken 10 minutes at the home store to review your options and you have put aside a few hundred dollars then your options become much larger. You can tell the technician that you want a specific manufacture and model because you know that one gives you the best results for your money. Or if you really do your work you can have the home store drop off your new unit and pick up your old unit for free and then make the hookup on your own.
If you don’t know your options then you don’t have any options.
So, prepare and things will work out better than you think.